25

Feb

Canada: Liberal Party Leadership race takes a dramatic turn after Ruby Dhalla’s disqualification

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A person wearing a red turban AI-generated content may be incorrect.After two committees overseeing the election of the new leader of the Liberal Party unanimously decided to disqualify former MP Ruby  Dhalla from the Party leadership race, Canada’s wait to get its first Prime Minister of colour has been put on hold for now.

With her disqualification, the contest has been narrowed down to four candidates – Mark Carney, Frank Baylis, Chrystia Freeland and Karina Gould. Nearly 400,000 registered members of the Liberal Party will have time till March 9 to elect their new leader from amongst four candidates left in the contest.

Taking pride in its multiculturalism, Canada, had come closer in electing an immigrant of South Asian descent when the contest to choose a successor to incumbent Justin Trudeau got underway early this year. Hopes faded away quickly after the rejection of the candidatures of both Chandra Arya and Ruby Dhalla on technical grounds.

 

Column at an Galnce
The disqualification of former MP Ruby Dhalla from the Liberal Party leadership race has delayed Canada's chance to elect its first Prime Minister of color. Following her disqualification, the contest now includes four candidates: Mark Carney, Frank Baylis, Chrystia Freeland, and Karina Gould. Dhalla's candidacy was rejected due to alleged violations of the National Leadership Rules and the Canada Elections Act, which included inaccurate financial reporting.
Monday Matters
By Prabhjot Singh
She expressed disappointment, claiming the party did not want her to win and criticized the decision as detrimental to democracy and the representation of immigrant communities. Dhalla, who previously served as an MP from 2004 to 2011, had hoped to return to politics after Justin Trudeau announced his resignation. The remaining candidates will be elected by nearly 400,000 registered Liberal Party members by March 9.

Two candidates belonging to the Indo-Canadian community – Chandra Arya and Ruby Dhalla – jumped into the fray.  Hopes faded away quickly after the rejection of the candidatures of both Chandra Arya and Ruby Dhalla on technical grounds.

Chandra Arya was the first one to get “disapproval” of the election committee and now when the remaining five candidates completed the mandatory “deposit” formalities, the election and expensive committees jointly concluded that Ruby Dhalla had violated the laid down procedures and thus cannot continue in the run for the Party leadership to become second woman Prime Minister of Canada.

Disappointed at the verdict handed down to her after her reply to the notices of the election and expensive committees were rejected, Ruby Dhalla, who represented Brampton-Springdale riding from 2004 to 2011, refused to accept the decision saying the “the party just did not want her to win.”

The disqualification of Ruby has sparked a controversy  as the decision comes five days after contestants paid the final deposit in the $350,000 entry fee and three days before the candidate debates in Montreal

The Liberal Party national director Azam Ishmael\, who announced the decision to disqualify Ruby Dhalla from the contest, said that the decision was made unanimously by a joint sitting of both the vote and expense committees.

The committees  "determined that Dr. Dhalla was in breach of 10 violations of the National Leadership Rules, Leadership Vote Rules, and the Leadership Expense Rules," he said maintaining that allegations include violations of the Canada Elections Act, not disclosing "material facts," inaccurate financial reporting and other election finance violations.

“The investigation was extensive, including interviews, questionnaires and an opportunity for Dr. Dhalla to directly address the committees," he said holding that  “the Leadership Vote Committee determined that the violations were extremely serious, accepted the recommendation of the chief electoral officer and disqualified Dr. Dhalla under section 8(i) of the National Leadership Rules."

Ruby Dhalla while rejecting the decision claimed she received a text from the party telling her she was going to be disqualified by the end of the day, even before she was interviewed by the committee.

She said she still made a submission to the committee. Ruby Dhalla learnt from media reports that the decision to disqualify her had been confirmed before she got anything more from the party.

“It's a sad day for democracy, it's a sad day for the Liberal party,” said Dhalla. “They have taken out now the second person of an immigrant community out of the race, this is not the Liberal party, certainly, that is the voice of the immigrants who helped build it.”

Ruby Dhalla, a chiropractor by training, joined Neena Grewal, as the first pair of women of Indian descent to sit in the House of Commons in 2004. While Ruby Dhalla was elected on a Liberal ticket, Neena Grewal represented the Conservatives.

Neena Grewal had another first as she and her husband, Gurmant Grewal, became the first couple of Indian descent to sit in the same Parliament in 2004.

Ruby Dhalla continued to represent Brampton-Springdale till 2011. She later took a break after her defeat in the 2011 elections.

After the death of her brother, Neil, also a chiropractor and a hotelier a couple of years ago, Ruby became a hotelier. When Justin Trudeau announced his decision to quit as the Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister in December last year, Ruby decided to stage a comeback in politics.

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